Making the cake
1.
rease and line three 6” round tins and three 8”
G
round tins and pre-heat the oven to 180C. If you
don’t have three tins in each size you will need to
keep some of the mixture back and refill the tins
once the first layers have cooked.
2. B
eat together the butter and sugar until light and
fluffy. Add the vanilla essence.
3. B
eat together the eggs and slowly add to the mixture.
Add a little flour if it starts to curdle.
4. F inally, add in the remaining flour until the mixture is
well combined. Divide equally among the tins.
5. C
ook for 30-40 minutes or until the cakes are well
risen and a knife inserted comes out clean.
6. L eave to cool in their tins before turning out on a wire
rack, then leave to cool completely.
7. W
hile you are waiting for the cakes to cool beat
together the butter and icing until pale, light and fluffy.
Add in the vanilla essence to taste and set aside.
Assembling the cake
1.
emove all the baking parchment from your cake
R
layers and use a sharp serrated knife such as a
bread knife to level them all.
2. S
pread a layer of buttercream over the first round of
the 6” cake then a layer of jam. Place the next round
on top and repeat, then add the final round.
3. Repeat step 2 with the 8” cake. Stick both cakes to
their silver cake boards of the same size.
4. Y
ou should now have two cakes, each with three
rounds of sponge and two layers of buttercream and
jam in each. Use a spirit level if you want to make
sure they are level.
5. Refrigerate the cakes until they are firm.
6. Remove the cakes from the fridge and spread
buttercream liberally around the sides and top of the
6” cake until it is covered entirely.
7. Using a cake scraper rotate the cake and gently
scrap the sides until they are as smooth as you can
get them. You can use the cake board as a guide for
your cake scraper. Gently smooth the top.
8. Repeat with the 8” cake. Stick the 8” cake to the 12”
board with a little buttercream. Put both back in the
fridge until they are firm to the touch.
9. Meanwhile, divide your remaining buttercream into
six bowls and colour up each one a different colour.
10. Remove your cakes from the fridge. Taking a small
palette knife or ordinary knife spread small dollops of
buttercream at different points all around your cakes.
11. Take your cake side scraper or larger palette knife
and use it to smooth the icing on the sides again.
Keep going over the cakes until you are happy with
the effect.
12. Stack the smaller cake on top of the larger cake.
13. Take a large pastry piping bag with a star nozzle
and again, using a palette knife, fill the bag with the
remaining coloured buttercream. Ideally you want
to spread the different coloured buttercreams down
the sides of the bag, rather than piling them on top
of one another so that it comes out multi-coloured
when you pipe it.
14. Finally, pipe small stars all around your cake in your
desired pattern.
B
y Fay Millar
brightoncakes.com
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